Why We Kill So Many Houseplants, But Spend Billions On Them Anyway | Big Business

Houseplants are all the rage. But as Americans buy more plants, and producers scale up to meet demand, more plants are dying. About 40% of plants perish in the supply chain, and another 35% die in customers' homes. So what are plant producers and influencers doing about it? We went to one of America's largest plant farms to find out.

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Why We Kill So Many Houseplants, But Spend Billions On Them Anyway | Big Business

[GardeningatN]

This video is pretty much my exact topic for my final dissertation at university. A lot of the points that this short report discussed are the same as the ones I found 10 years ago. A few key factors I came across that wasn't mentioned in this video is the fact that to save cost growers only use pots and enough fertiliser to keep the plant looking good up until the point of sale. Once bought repotting is required for most plants and this greatly increases the chance of survival. Plus if the plant dies shortly after it's bought by a customer it is a great business model as the customer will usually buy another plant to replace it. 5:46 Another key factor is that there are several popular houseplants that are not well suited to our homes, either because of light levels, humidity or temperatures. Making many types of houseplants are hard to look after without special care, such as miniature roses, Poinsettias and Azaleas. Finally the labels on most houseplants are too generic or lack enough detail to fully educate the customer on how to look after their new plant.

[dangitbobby.]

Now im kinda proud of always buying clearance plants that need to be revived, I love seeing them come back to life & grow again from almost nothing makes my heart so happy.

[Peleski]

The question shouldn't be "do you need that plant?". It should be, "what environment and care needs does this plant have, and am I able to consistently provide them?".

[malcolmrose]

When I lived in London, my wife was friends with a florist who, amongst other things, supplied local offices with orchids. Now, if you have ever owned orchids you'll know that for several months a year they are beautiful plants with flowers - and the rest of the year they are essentially are pretty much a stick in a pot. Needless to say, the offices only wanted flowering orchids so the florist would deliver new orchids in flower and bring back the "stick in a pot" orchids to her little shop. But she was running out of room - so my wife started bringing them home. But then we ran out of room in the kitchen and bathroom for them.

I took a couple to work and put them in the kitchen there - that led to me bringing in "rescue" orchids for the other staff to take home, and giving instruction on basic care for them, and where to put them for best results - it used to amuse me that I know next to nothing about plants but that people would have confidence in what I told them just because I was holding a healthy orchid in my hand!

[XxLadyxGaladrielxX]

Worth mentioning that there would be a lot less shirkage if box stores like Home Depot discounted their plants instead of just throwing away ones that could be nursed back to health, or throwing away plants because they are perfectly fine yet still there when the next set up comes.

The number of times I have seen plants, from costa farms, that have a few dry leaves, or other minor cosemetic things that could easily be saved yet are thrown away is incredibly depressing.

Nor are these plants composted, they are thrown, fancy planters and all, straight down a compactor. This is down by plant reps, but the box store selling them should take a stance and responsibility to not kill them. Succulents are frequently rotted by improper watering, it's such a simple thing guys.

[heyjude]

I now appreciate my husband for stopping me on buying new plants. Bought beautiful and tall ones before but most of them died due to overwatering. I tried to save some by cutting / propagating them and it worked. I may have lost the original plants but their descendants are alive and getting more beautiful.

Learning to care for them is better than bringing in new ones.

[Annabelle]

I love to propagate. Been doing it since college. Thank you Mom for teaching me how to take care of plants, I have killed a few but not 70%! I have over 30 different types of plants in my house. Lots I have I have propagated so now I have two or three of the same plant.

[DanBrown]

So 70% of plants die under the hands of professional growers before they get to the store yet the premise of this video is that homeowners are neglectful for having the exact same ratio of success? Maybe trying to grow something under artificial conditions is just challenging. For everyone.

[austinfreyrikrw]

So glad they are using predatory mites instead of chemical insecticides to deal with pests in the greenhouse.

[thingkingBOX]

I bought a dying Adansonii with 3 leaves last summer of 2020 for $3.00 (₱150.00). Now I have 8 pots with maybe 15-25 leaves each from that plant... Just sharin' 🙂

[kushagraverma]

"You havent grown a plant unless you killed it three times"
as a gardener, THIS IS 100 percent TRUE.

Also, OMG $100 for one single plant??? woah. I can buy 700 fruit trees (yes, Trees....full big ass trees) for that much money where I live. My heart goes out to y'all :(

[vfitepower]

I've worked at a couple of big box retailers. Those dying plants get thrown away; it's a massive amount of waste

[jcrow]

I reuse those pots when I grow my my veggie seedlings. Most of my plants are clippings with some I have taken to my office..

[cindycin]

My favorite thing to do with house plants when I get them home is divide them by it's roots. The plant usually will make 2 or more separate plants that I can repot. A $15 plant will be well worth the purchase because I just made it into 7 plants that will grow individually. This is how I convince myself a plant is worth the price!

[risksandhope]

I rescued this string of peas that was withering, but it was pretty long and full so I took a chance. Got it home, discovered it was absolutely soaked and most of its roots were rotting. Took the soil apart, repotted it, and hoped it had enough roots to take hold. Those peas are so beautiful now, I've never seen a plant so happy in my window. It's amazing what the right amount of water can do.

[waynek]

I've exactly the opposite problem. Nearly 25 years ago my wife was gifted a potted plant to celebrate her new job on Madison Ave in NYC. Ten years later she began working from home and brought the plant with her. I chop it. Deprive it of fertilizer and water and speak to it unkindly. Still it grows abundantly and takes up the entire window and shelf it sits upon. I know in my heart that there are several family keepsakes hidden and, likely now forever out of reach.
If anyone wants an immortal plant you are welcome to retrieve it. Bring assistance and be advised that returns are not welcome.

[lamnad]

Watching this made me proud of how I have started to grow plants from seed and reuse plastic pots. It also makes me wonder how much I could get for the lemon saplings I just gave away.

[kateturner]

I tested myself on just a couple plants for a year to see if I could keep them alive. I did, and then and only then did I allow myself to get more. I can say that watching this I'm proud of how I've gone about my hobby. I have only lost a very short list of plants, and I've been a big proponent of purchasing babies, cuttings, and trading from smaller sellers and ethical sellers. I save all my plastic pots, and I try very hard to provide healthy environments for all the plants I care for. I'm still not as particular about their setting as I could be, but I've got a thriving personal jungle going on and I'm really pleased with how I made that happen. It's nice to know the plants I acquired that came from costa originally came from a thoughtful company.

[rvw]

Every product we buy should print the amount of resources that went into making that product on the product packaging. People would be more aware of their waste of resources.

[bobrobertsNotUrBob]

Just a word of warning, always treat coco coir as if it has a high salt (salinity), always soak and rinse and before putting plants in, be sure to add extra calium and magnesium as the coir will absorb it faster than the plant roots will.